WEBVTT
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Hey, what is up?
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Welcome to this episode of the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.
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As always, I'm your host, brian LoFermento, and how often here on the show do I talk about how much I love businesses that are doing good in the world?
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That's why we've gone out and we found an incredible business leader that has so much experience, a lot of vast experience.
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We're going to hear so many different things from today's guest, so let me introduce him to you.
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His name is Sahal Lahur.
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Sahal is a global business leader with over 25 years of experience in driving digital transformation and direct-to-consumer growth for iconic brands that we've all heard of, such as Estee Lauder companies, brooks Brothers and Deloitte.
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As a seasoned board member and C-suite executive, he has successfully transitioned from Fortune 500 CXO roles to his current position as the CEO of Stickball, where he leads go-to-market operations and develops AI-based technology platforms.
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His board experience spans both corporate and charitable organizations, including serving on the board of VeloCloud, which was acquired by VMware, and dedication to social impact through board roles with the Cole Strange Foundation and Wine to Water.
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Sahal brings a data-driven operational perspective that focuses on elevating customer engagement through analytics and AI, optimizing omni-channel experiences and driving productivity across global operations.
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These are things that we all need to focus on.
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It's so cool to see how Sahal has been in roles and taken on projects that have culminated in all of these incredible skills, talents, experiences that we're going to learn a lot from.
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What I also love about Sahal is not only did he grow up in Zimbabwe and he now lives in New England, but him and I both bleed green.
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He is also an avid Celtics and Patriots fan as well, so we are in such good company here today.
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I'm excited to learn from him, so I'm not going to say anything else.
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Let's dive straight into my interview with Sahal Lahar.
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All right, sahal, I am so very excited to have you here with us today.
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First things first welcome to the show.
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Thank you, excited to be here.
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Heck.
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Yes, I'm excited to hear your backstory.
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So we're going to start there.
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Sahal, I would love for you to take us beyond the bio.
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Who's Sahal?
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How did you start doing all these cool things?
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So, you know, my journey starts, as you know, as an engineer by trade and you know, around electrical engineering, to be exact, and around the, you know, around my junior year I realized that, you know, I wanted more of the blend between business and technology and that's where, you know, I started to pursue consulting.
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So consulting right out of college Accenture and Deloitte and that was for me a really great you know foundation, learning, the methodology, getting a lot of exposure to, you know, getting a lot of exposure to a lot of different businesses and the ability to come in and work with you know businesses across many different industries to take this you know journey with them in helping them solve their business problems.
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So that was, you know, that was kind of the start of my career and I then pivoted in from consulting to doing a lot of work with you know that.
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You know, the c-suite working across different you know shoe company that had four brands Sperry, top Sider, tzokani Kids and the Stride Rite Children's brand.
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So that was, you know, that was my first kind of entry into C-level roles led technology for them and then moved into you know similar roles at Brooks Brothers and started to run more of the.
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You know the actual P&L and owning the direct-to-consumer channel, the, the brands there.
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And then, you know, moving into.
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You know some of the roles uh, leading uh digital and marketing uh technologies for the estee lauder companies, which was just a fascinating experience with their uh.
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You know 30 plus brands, brands and just iconic brands that have, you know, evolved so much over the years and such a deep history with some great products.
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And you know, now working in a very different industry, trying to bridge a lot of gaps that we see in society and communities really across the world with regards to financial literacy and workforce readiness.
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So that's my current role.
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So Stickball is an AI-powered platform that you know provides financial literacy, workforce readiness training, as well as you know several other key.
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You know products and services.
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We're working with sheriff's departments, you know, in different parts of the US in what's called the Second Chance Program, helping folks with their reentry into the community, getting you know back into.
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You know the workforce, so you know super exciting mission based.
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You know organization.
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Yeah, I really appreciate that overview, sahal, especially because I teased it at the very top of this episode about the diverse experiences that you've amassed, whether we look through the lens of the positions that you've had, from the board to the C-suite positions that you've had, as well as the different industries I mean whether we talk direct to consumer or whether we talk about what you're doing with stickball you directly called it out is you see opportunities societally that we can make changes?
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So these are big things that you're utilizing, which you're preaching to the choir here.
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You're utilizing business in order to make these positive changes in the world.
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Talk to me about that approach to it, because it just seems to me like, through no matter what role that you've been in, you've brought that mindset of hey, let's reach people in the right way to make positive, effective change, whether it's bringing great products to them or what you're doing with Stickball is bringing a great solution that impacts society.
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I'd love to get into that mindset and the I don't know if it's strategy or if it's tactical or a combination of both, but I'd love to hear that part of your mind.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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I mean I think there is a, you know a very first and foremost right.
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I mean that stems from a couple key aspects.
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I think the first one is really collaboration and, you know, partner building relationships, right, I mean it's building and nurturing relationships to understand, you know, what is it that is someone's challenge, whether it's a company's challenge, how does that tie back to their strategy?
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Or, you know, what is it that we can do with?
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You know, different organizations to help the community as a whole.
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So I think, when you look at that, the things that to me are really critical is the ability to come to the table with a very open mindset and, you know, leading with empathy.
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Leading with empathy to come in and really walk a mile in someone's shoes, understand exactly what the challenges are, and then you know very quickly taking a, you know, a tactical, results driven approach to deliver capabilities, and I think that's really the key right.
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I think people get into trouble when they try to.
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You know, just lead with technology first, and I think here it's about, you know, technology is going to be the underpinning.
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There's going to be a lot of things we can do with technology and digital products, but first and foremost, it has to be about what business capability are we trying to bridge here?
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And I think that's where you know I've really tried to focus throughout my career, whether it's partnering with, you know, members of the, you know the board, or colleagues in the C-suite, or you know now working with.
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You know such a diverse group of stakeholders.
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You know we work with schools, mayors of cities as we provide products to them, and then also you know CEOs of companies that are using our workforce readiness products and, as I mentioned, you know sheriffs and their staff that are working with that Second Chance program.
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So it's really a you know a super exciting world and I think you know a lot of this stems from the fact that you know we find you know kids, really at all ages, right, that are academically very smart, but you know missing some of those life skills, right, missing, you know what is financial literacy, what are the important?
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You know aspects that I need to focus on as I pursue my career.
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What is it that you know?
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How do I balance a checkbook, how do I go into an interview, and you know work with people with different styles, how do I handle conflict, right, I mean, these are all super important things that you know a lot of people graduate from, you know, some of the best institutions and, you know, don't have those skills and so you know, I think, which really you know, stem from the human element and it's, you know, really there's really no substitute for that.
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You know, we've come from a, you know, industrial revolution to a technology revolution, to, to technology revolution, to you know data, and now you know AI and other elements, but ultimately, right, we're no closer to you know, wisdom and some of these, you know, some of these just foundational elements.
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Yeah, sahal, and carrying on with that theme of the human element.
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I think it's so important, which people probably don't fully expect or appreciate about your background.
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Obviously, you are a big believer in the power of technology and the positive force for that, and we're definitely going to talk about AI here in our conversation today, but I love how much of what you share with us and how many of your roles come back to that human element.
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I know how important relationships are to you, hearing you talk about the fact that you're interfacing with schools and with sheriffs and obviously in your career you've interfaced with CEOs of massive companies around the world.
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Talk to us about that relationship building.
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What's at the heart of that?
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What's your attitude or some tips and tricks that our audience could take from that?
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What really leads into building those meaningful, impactful relationships?
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Yeah, absolutely.
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I mean, I think that that is really, you know, a critical piece that takes time, right.
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I mean, first and foremost, it requires you to, you know, work with very diverse, with people of very diverse backgrounds, and everyone is looking at these business challenges very differently.
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So I think, when you look across the spectrum, it's super important that you bring kind of that flexible style and the empathy that we talked about before to come into these relationships and really listen and learn from these individuals and understand who they are, what makes them tick, what are some of the, you know, the critical things that are friction points in their business or in their role, and, you know, starting to break that down into, you know, small digestible pieces, right?
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So there was, you know, a long time ago, a book called how to Eat the Elephant, right, and really that focuses on how do we solve large, complex problems, and it's really by taking bite-sized pieces, and that's where I've always thought that you know it's tried to take a crawl, walk, run, approach and work with all of these leaders to, you know, understand, you know, sure you may have a long laundry list of things that we want to go after.
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The key thing, though, is that we're not going to do anything well that we want to go after.
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The key thing, though, is that we're not going to do anything well if we try to go after.
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You know a dozen things right off the bat, right?
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So let's take, you know, your one or two most impactful items.
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Let's deliver, you know, some small successes with those, and then let's stack successes to, you know, make this all the more impactful for the organization and for you know, whoever the stakeholders are, whether that's employees, customers, for the community as a whole, so that, I think is is such a critical piece, but, you know, what's often overlooked in that is the fact that, you know, sometimes, companies as well as individuals really try to take a one-size-fits-all approach and say, hey look, I did this and this worked very well for me at Organization X.
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I'm going to come in, and, you know, try and kind of replicate that success and, you know, create kind of a cookie cutter approach, and I think that's where, you know, these organizations recognize that you know that is not going to work for them, because every organization look, you can have, you know, a retailer, you can have a beauty company.
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Everyone, no matter how similar the product and service they're delivering is has, you know, a different DNA.
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They have a different corporate culture, they have a different thing that makes them unique and their value proposition varies.
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So, you know, in turn, taking that you know cookie cutter approach and trying to replicate it is not going to be successful.
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So I think that's where, you know, starting to really recognize what are the key differences, what are the you know important elements of this organization, their corporate culture, their DNA, and how do we differentiate our approach to dynamically create an approach that is going to be most effective for them is, I think, the you know what really delivers that value at the end of the day.
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So I think people recognize that well, there's best practices you can bring to the table.
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You're not going to be effective by just, you know, copying and pasting or, you know, taking that cookie cutter approach.
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So I think that's where what we've seen work and not work and there's Harvard Business School case studies that talk about this piece and how important it is to really recalibrate your approach and in every kind of project, even different projects with the same organization, taking that different approach, to understand who is that end stakeholder or user or consumer that we're approaching and serving and how do we make, you know, ultimately, their lives better and you know, how do we reduce the friction in all of our interactions with them.
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So I think that's such a you know, that's such a critical piece and I think, like I said, a lot of people, you know, kind of lose their way because they try to take an approach that is just you know very, very, you know very, very much a carbon copy of what they've done in the past, without recognizing that we have to, you know, pivot and you know, while we can leverage elements that are similar, we have to do that with, you know, very dynamically and in a very unique way for every project and every customer.
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Yeah, I love that perspective.
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Sahal, I'm so excited because now I'm really going to put you on the spot here, because I know how big of a fan you are of AI and how important it is to the work that you're doing.
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But you just introduced us to the very importance and I'm so grateful that you shared that with our audience about not copying and pasting, not utilizing that cookie cutter approach.
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You talk about the carbon copy and my fear, honestly, here in 2025, is that so many people are looking for AI to be that copy paste solution and they haven't yet figured out.
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Obviously, there's all different ways we can prompt it.
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There's different ways that we can view AI, but I'd love to hear your executive view of how does AI positively move our businesses forward in a way that keeps us away from copying and pasting?
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Yeah, that's a great question and I think you know, obviously some would say the million dollar question right, given where the world is going with all of the innovation, with AI and machine learning and all of these different new technologies.
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So I think you know, the key thing here is to you know, again, everyone has to take a very open-minded approach here, right, because I think there's some fascinating things that AI does.
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I think it can be a key strategic enabler for every business in every industry.
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But, with that said, we have to take a very thoughtful approach and they have to be some guardrails in terms of you know what is the space that AI is playing in versus you know where do we want to continue to have that?
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You know the human element, or the DNA of our company that is, you know, remains as that kind of key differentiator when we engage with customers and stakeholders.
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So, you know, I think you know a lot of people take a very black and white approach to AI and some people are in and some people are out.
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The people that are out have deep-rooted fears about you know how AI can take things off course, because you know it obviously has a lot of capabilities.
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But ultimately, right.
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I mean there's just basic.
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You know human litmus tests that we need to apply to whatever recommendations and findings AI is giving us, so that you know we're not taking everything verbatim and in some cases, you know it may not understand why we're doing certain things or investing in.
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You know certain channels or certain markets as growth strategies, right, and you know there's there's an investment that has to be made at a foundational level to grow a business.
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So it's not as simple as you know throw all your money into the highest performing channels and markets.
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That's an approach, but certainly not you know the approach that's going to drive long-term growth and success.
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So I think you know, again, the complicating factors here are that AI can do so much and you know, ultimately who is the individual in the organization that is going to quarterback all of these different AI initiatives, right?
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So some larger organizations now have, you know, folks in the C-suite that are focused on AI and that's, you know again, an approach that works for some organizations.
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A large organization certainly can, you know, and handle a role like that and afford to add that additional leadership In other, smaller organizations, these responsibilities may be shared across the COO and the CIO.
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Again, it really depends on every business, the CIO, or you know again, it really depends on every business.
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But you know.
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So, like we said, you're on one end of the spectrum, have you know that deep fear of you know AI is going to derail things for us and so we're just going to make this mandate that we're not using AI.
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And then, on the other end of the spectrum, you know, leveraging AI in every function of the organization, which you know again is, can be an effective strategy with the right governance and the right guardrails, and so that's where I think you really have to look at.
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You know, where are the parts of our business and the parts of our strategy where we want to continue to have, you know, that human relationship that is ultra important in our day to day operations, that we want to continue to foster, and where are the things where we may have tedious, you know repeatable tasks, such as analyzing data, looking at different trends, identifying kind of customer preferences, and you know customer history and transactions.
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Those types of things is where you know, I think it's those are great first places to focus on from an AI standpoint, and you know.
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So you have kind of two main buckets of AI right.
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I mean, you have the piece where AI can help you know, from an analysis standpoint, whether it's analyzing data or coming up with hypotheses, data or coming up with hypotheses.
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And then the other one is that's, I think, super important and interesting is you know the piece where we're generating content right.
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So the you know generating content could be you know marketing messages, it could be different creative assets, it could be you know any number of things.
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It could just be you know copywriting descriptions for your products on your website or helping augment what you do with storytelling and blogs.
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But ultimately, the most important thing is to you know, understand, you know for your business.
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Where do you want to start that AI journey?
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And again, take that core walk around approach and have the right governance in place so, as that scales, your AI initiatives continue to be coordinated across the organization.
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Yeah, so well said, sahal.
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So many real life considerations for us.
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And it's fun that you and I are having this conversation on the air in front of listeners in over 150 countries, because I feel like the world is moving faster than ever before right now.
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So we're all figuring this out, and the fact that we get to figure it out together in real time as we try to keep up with the evolution is a fun challenge for all of us, business leaders, and it's important because it impacts not only what we do in our businesses but how we serve the communities, the audiences, the customers that we serve.
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So so I want to put you on the spot for this, because I've been so excited to hear your perspective because of your vast experiences here, and that is with regards to for-profit versus non-profit vast experiences here, and that is with regards to for-profit versus non-profit.
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I feel like that non-profit term gets conflated way too frequently, that people think that the purpose you know money is completely separate from it.
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But of course, non-profits it's not a vow to poverty.
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It really is a chance for us to use that money directly for that good.
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So, sahal, you've been on boards, you've been in C-suite positions.
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I want to hear your perspective on the differences and also the similarities between the for-profit mindset and, maybe, the nonprofit world.
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Yeah, brian, that's a great question and I think you know the point that you raise here, I think, is really a critical one for everyone to understand and, I think, ultimately, right, I think we have to come back to what I talked about with capabilities.
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Right, let's take a capability driven mindset.
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What is it that the organization, whether it's a for-profit or a non-profit what is their mission and their vision in terms of the role that they're trying to play in the organization, the gaps that they're trying to bridge and the capabilities that they're trying to deliver?
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And I think, when you take that approach, you'll start to look at okay, what are the key capabilities that I need to build in my organization?
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So, again, you know, I'll take, you know, some tools that I learned in my consulting days, which is really around capability maps.
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And you know every organization, regardless of whether you're a full profit or a nonprofit, has, you know, various capabilities that they deliver every day.
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You know you may be selling products on the web, right, I mean.
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You may be doing digital commerce.
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You may be, you know, working with, you know, organizations across different parts of the world to bring, and you know to deliver, clean water, for example, whatever it is right.
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I mean, I think you have to start by understanding what is that superset of the capabilities we want to continue to be great at.
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And that capability map ultimately shows what is our organization all about, what is everything that we deliver.
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We deliver, and you know.
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Then everyone has to take a very objective look at that and, you know, evaluate themselves, you know very honestly to say, you know, where do we fall today with each of these capabilities?
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And an easy way to do it right is just a green, yellow, red, um, type of uh, uh, color coding approach, right, which will ultimately create a heat map of your the different capabilities in your organization.
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And so you know, you would look at that and say, look, here's a capability we do very well.
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This is, for us, a key differentiator.
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That's green and we're very happy about that.
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On the flip side, here's, you know, certain capabilities where we're doing okay, we're not quite, you know, market leading, there's more work to do, we need to continue to innovate there.
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Those are probably yellow.
00:29:41.298 --> 00:29:57.663
And then there's other capabilities where you know we haven't really, you know, started to really make much progress at all, and you know there's capabilities where we just have significant gaps, and those would be the ones that are red.
00:29:58.375 --> 00:30:35.144
And I think when you take that heat map and you take your enterprise kind of capabilities or your, you know, organization-wide capabilities and you look at them through that lens of you know, where are we, how are we performing, what are the areas where we could continue to innovate, that will help drive for you a you know a roadmap to say, look, you know, while everyone would want every single capability to be green, you know that's not going to happen overnight and, honestly, the world continues to evolve.
00:30:35.144 --> 00:30:52.007
So, you know, even the best in class organizations are not going to have, you know, every capability green and market leading, because the market dictates different things at different points of maturity and evolution.
00:30:52.007 --> 00:31:11.526
So, you know, I think, when you look at that, when you look at it from that standpoint, and again you kind of, you know, take the elements of the crawl, walk, run approach to say, look, we're going to take, you know, a very focused look at capabilities X, y and Z.
00:31:11.526 --> 00:31:16.398
To start, you know, maybe a couple of them are yellow, one of them is red.
00:31:16.398 --> 00:31:20.127
Let's go after those, let's start to bridge the gap there.
00:31:20.127 --> 00:31:27.378
Start to bridge the gap there and then, once we do that, then you know we'll continue to.
00:31:27.378 --> 00:31:37.005
You know work down the other parts of you know the organization and what else is in our roadmap and I think you know you have to continue to.
00:31:38.028 --> 00:31:42.440
The roadmap itself right, has to be continuously recalibrated.
00:31:42.440 --> 00:31:44.586
It has to be a very dynamic tool.
00:31:44.586 --> 00:31:51.628
It's not something that we do today and then you know we leverage the same roadmap for two years.
00:31:51.628 --> 00:31:55.363
The roadmap's going to change every quarter, every month.
00:31:55.363 --> 00:32:03.077
You know as your market changes, as your competitors do different things, as customers demand different things.
00:32:03.077 --> 00:32:18.067
So I think you know that ultimately, right to me is you know, just if you think lowest common denominator of how we go about these, you know solving these different problems.
00:32:18.067 --> 00:32:25.093
That is an approach that really will serve you well, whether you're for-profit or non-profit.
00:32:25.093 --> 00:32:33.336
And again, right I mean there may be specific nuances to your business that you have to look at, depending on.
00:32:33.336 --> 00:32:52.088
You know which side you fall into as a core business, but you know ultimately it has to be about, you know, the customer or the stakeholder that we're serving and the capability or service that we're trying to provide.
00:32:53.856 --> 00:33:08.039
Yes, we are getting a glimpse into that CEO mind of yours, which I knew you'd bring to today's episode talking about heat mapping, talking about building out those roadmaps such important considerations and I love the really level-headed and grounded approach that you bring to all of this.
00:33:08.039 --> 00:33:17.162
It shows why you've been so successful in all the different roles that you've had, and we're going to talk about stickball on the links so people can check out the work that you're working on these days in just a minute.
00:33:17.162 --> 00:33:28.557
But before we get there, I want to ask you your number one best piece of advice for our listeners, knowing that we're being listened to by both entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs at all different levels of their own growth journeys.
00:33:28.557 --> 00:33:32.576
What's that one piece of entrepreneurial advice that you want to leave them with today?
00:33:34.317 --> 00:33:38.742
Yeah, I think that you know that key piece of advice.
00:33:38.742 --> 00:33:47.212
You know a lot of people will say you know, follow your.
00:33:47.212 --> 00:33:52.502
You know passion, or follow your dreams, and I think that's good advice.
00:33:52.502 --> 00:34:30.987
But I would put an asterisk on that and say, look, there has to be, you have to kind of have a realistic vision of where you want to go, and that has to be based on what is it that you're good at, um, and you know what are the things that you enjoy doing at the same time, and I think when you can, uh, you know, find, you know that, uh, you know that you know that sweet spot where not only are you doing something that you're good at, but you're also very passionate about.
00:34:30.987 --> 00:34:33.777
I mean, that's really where you should focus, right.
00:34:33.777 --> 00:34:51.286
So, you know, everyone needs to understand their own capabilities and you know, at the same time, their own constraints as well, and so you know what is it that is my passion, you know.
00:34:51.606 --> 00:35:22.021
Sure, you know, I may be passionate about certain things where I don't have any capabilities right and can't, you know, really impact that space, and so I, you know, probably have't, you know, really impact that space, and so I, you know, probably have to, you know, have a list that I look at very objectively and realistically to say the best you know, areas where I do my you know, where I can have the greatest impact is you know, these areas and those you know.
00:35:22.021 --> 00:35:48.983
Maybe pick one or two of those and really master that space and, you know, continue to be a you know, take that mindset of you know, continuously learning and improving who you are, both personally and professionally, and that will, you know, I think, help you be your you know, most effective and best self.
00:35:49.844 --> 00:35:51.588
Yes, I love that advice.
00:35:51.708 --> 00:36:07.568
I'm so appreciative of you giving us these insights and and these perspectives that you've picked up along the way, because impact, it's something that's followed through in all the topics that you and I have talked about today, and what I really hear with those lasting words of advice is finding that intersection of these things in our life.
00:36:07.655 --> 00:36:23.800
That's what I love about your own journey is that you love technology and obviously you're at the cornerstone of where AI is going, but you also love business and you also love people and you're so driven by impact, so it's so cool to see how you've combined all of those things to make great things happen in the world.
00:36:23.800 --> 00:36:31.027
So, for listeners who do want to check out all the work that you're doing as the CEO of Stickball, I love the headline at the very top of your website.
00:36:31.027 --> 00:36:36.110
It says lessons that stick life skills, that last we meet students where they are.
00:36:36.110 --> 00:36:40.596
Sahal, you're continuing to do important work, so drop those links on us.
00:36:40.596 --> 00:36:44.844
Where should listeners go from here to connect with you as well as see all the great work that you're putting into the world?
00:36:45.746 --> 00:36:47.148
Yeah, absolutely so.
00:36:47.148 --> 00:36:56.916
You know stickballbiz B-I-Z is our website that will give you kind of a good overview of our different offerings.
00:36:56.916 --> 00:37:13.175
You know that website continues to evolve as we work with, you know, different organizations and different stakeholders, you know, across a whole host of different industries and parts of the community.
00:37:13.175 --> 00:37:16.516
So you know, super excited about that, I think.
00:37:16.516 --> 00:37:18.018
You know.
00:37:18.018 --> 00:37:31.605
I think the big thing with Stickball that really you know what I would say are our key differentiators, right, I mean everyone talks again, you know AI big buzzword.
00:37:31.605 --> 00:37:38.902
Everyone in some shape or form may say our business uses AI or our solutions use AI.
00:37:38.902 --> 00:37:47.235
But I think ultimately right, it's really use AI.
00:37:47.235 --> 00:37:55.067
But I think ultimately right, it's really, again, you know that intersection between the technology and you know the people side that we strive to.
00:37:55.067 --> 00:37:58.315
You know, look at every day here at Stickball.
00:37:58.315 --> 00:38:29.646
So every single you know capability and tool that we've built has been the result of, you know a bunch of, you know academics or engineers or you know folks just sat down in a room and said, hey, here's our capability.
00:38:29.646 --> 00:38:37.847
You know we started again with that approach to say, you know there's, we have to.
00:38:37.847 --> 00:38:42.503
You know, go out into the front lines and meet the people that are.
00:38:42.503 --> 00:38:51.416
You know working with these challenges day in and day out, and understand not only what is it, what is the challenge, but what are?
00:38:51.416 --> 00:39:08.697
You know the gaps in terms of the learning models that are in place today, for you know students or you know different cohorts that are missing the mark, and how do we continue to perfect those.
00:39:08.697 --> 00:39:16.902
So that's where you know we have you know very deep.
00:39:16.902 --> 00:39:24.708
You know co-innovation initiatives with educators.
00:39:24.708 --> 00:39:37.246
You know different experts in different fields to say you know how do we help you do this better?
00:39:37.246 --> 00:40:13.177
And as part of that right, it's again a big part of who we are is let's meet everyone where they are, and what that means is you know you can talk to a high school senior in one you know particular community, and there may be someone else that's also a high school senior that thinks and learns very differently, and so if we again take that one size fits all approach, we're not going to be successful.
00:40:13.177 --> 00:40:20.239
So that's where you know the key differentiator of stickball comes into play, which is, you know, let's.
00:40:20.699 --> 00:40:25.456
You know we start out by looking at you know what is your learning style.
00:40:25.456 --> 00:40:29.206
Are you more of a visual learner, more of an auditory learner?
00:40:29.206 --> 00:40:32.418
What are the things that you know you struggle with?
00:40:32.418 --> 00:40:34.262
Where are you from?
00:40:34.262 --> 00:41:00.742
You know a reading grade level Because, you know again, we serve very diverse communities, a lot of folks where English may not be your first language or even if English is your first language, maybe there's, you know, other, you know learning challenges and different things that come into play that we have to be conscious of.
00:41:00.742 --> 00:41:14.648
So let's not, you know, just have content that we're bombarding people with that you know is written at a certain reading comprehension levels.
00:41:14.648 --> 00:41:23.449
Let's, you know, have that ability where you know you may be in 10th grade but you may be reading at an 8th grade level.
00:41:23.449 --> 00:41:32.190
So let's take the content and dynamically serve that up to you at the level that you understand.
00:41:32.190 --> 00:41:35.338
So you know again.
00:41:35.338 --> 00:41:49.219
And similarly, we can do this across different languages, languages and as you start the journey with Stickball, we continue to.
00:41:49.239 --> 00:41:52.086
You know, look at every single interaction that you have with our platform.
00:41:52.086 --> 00:41:54.172
What is you know?
00:41:54.172 --> 00:42:05.956
So that's everything from what are the concepts, where, in the modules, where you seem to be, you know, breezing through and grasping very quickly what you know.
00:42:05.956 --> 00:42:08.523
What are the what is the content where you're struggling?
00:42:08.523 --> 00:42:10.498
Are you struggling with that content?
00:42:10.498 --> 00:42:23.300
Because the content itself is challenging or because the tools that we're using and the different ways that we're teaching, that is not effective or aligned with your learning style.
00:42:23.300 --> 00:42:42.483
So I think that is a super important part of who we are and what we pride ourselves on, which, again, is meet everyone where they are and continue to understand through.
00:42:42.744 --> 00:43:17.942
You know, deep analytics within the platform that are collected and, you know, looked at, you know dynamically, through every click that you make and you know every you know assessment that you answer in a specific module, or you know how long is it taking you to do various things and really comb through all of that information to then say, okay, well, maybe you know the way that we're talking to you about budgets.
00:43:17.942 --> 00:43:26.416
We have to take more of a you know storytelling approach and you know, bring in some more video content.
00:43:26.416 --> 00:43:36.079
Or maybe for this other person, they already understand the concept, but now we need to give them that ability to work.
00:43:36.079 --> 00:43:40.003
You know, with hands-on simulations, right?
00:43:40.003 --> 00:43:51.809
So let's create sandboxes and simulations where people can practice these skills in a safe environment, and I think all of it goes to, you know this.
00:43:53.657 --> 00:44:20.864
You know the vision of having a, you know a safe space where people can practice these skills and you know instead of you know making these mistakes in real life and racking up thousands of dollars in credit card debt, work through our budget simulator and our money app to really understand that, and so you know.
00:44:20.864 --> 00:44:30.302
When you do get a credit card and you know you get your first job, you really start to understand.
